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It’s hard to believe, but the WordPress dashboard doesn’t lie: This is our 1000th blog post!

From the very beginning, we knew we didn’t want the blog to just be a tool for self-promotion. Too many company blogs are filled with recycled press releases and thinly-veiled cheer-leading. Our hope was that a) we could develop a loyal audience by covering topics beyond the immediate neighborhood of our product; b) we would do this with a quasi-formal journalistic ethic (e.g. objective tone, footnoting sources, high-quality images); and c) we would do this often (three times a week!). I’m happy to report that the plan paid off and we now have thousands of loyal readers.

It’s been a while since we did a report round-up post. It’s not for lack of material! Our inboxes here at Fonolo HQ are full of great reports covering call center technology and trends. The steady pace of industry news has simply made it hard to find a quiet week to slip in a post like this.

Below are four reports that we think are worth your time. Thanks, as always, to the companies that sponsor these reports. The availability of this information helps the whole industry become more innovative.

Here’s what we know: In the call center industry, it feels as though there is a carousel of new and emerging call center trends forever in rotation. A trend doesn’t even have to be new or never-before-seen, mind you; it could very well be an existing technology, process, product, or service that has finally garnered the attention it deserves.

In the call center industry, something big is trending: Call-backs. And it’s no surprise that call centers are addicted to this solution because, quite simply, it’s the secret to customer happiness.

Avaya made good use of its annual Avaya ENGAGE® conference to show off its new branding while impressing partners, press, analysts, and customers with its momentum. There were too many announcements at last week’s show to cover them all in this post. So, I’ll just touch on some highlights, give links to the most interesting coverage, and summarize what the analysts thought. We will circle back to some of the specific topics in later posts.

We have 17 gifts for you today, or rather, 17 intriguing facts about call centers!

You may know a few of these already, but trust us: It never hurts to revisit some of the pivotal advancements, trends, stats, and interesting facts that have made waves in the call center industry (both past and present). With the “era of the customer” in full swing; the increase in customer expectation for omnichannel communication; and the never-ending developments in communication methods through AI-powered self-service; it is easy to overlook the importance that the call center plays in the customer experience.

Although customers begin their service journey with self-service before contacting an agent, the reality is that once self-service fails (which it does when the support issue is too complex, or when the stakes are higher for the customer), customers will take to their phones to resolve their issues. So, there is a limit to self-service, which will always lead the customer back to the loving arms of the call center.

Without further ado, here are some surprising, fundamental, and/or entertaining stats about the call center, a customer service lifesaver that is here to stay:

We are indeed. It’s a modern reality where customers call the shots, armed with the knowledge that they have options. This includes their expectation of a certain level of customer experience, one that is seamless, omnichannel, and with bot offerings. In fact, according to Forrester, today’s “consumers have more tech at their disposal than ever before and it has fundamentally changed how they experience brands.” With more than 50% of companies already using chatbots, and 80% of businesses wanting chatbots by 2020 ( says Oracle), bots have been, and will be, rapidly transforming the customer service and customer experience landscape, especially in retail. In an article by Retail Dive, “Juniper estimates that by 2023 over 70% of chatbots accessed will be retail based.” Think about how many digital assistants, chatbots, and IVR’s that actually refers to, and in what capacity.

At a healthy 75 years’ old, the Scandinavian born-and-bred brand has well surpassed middle-age and earned its place among retail royalty, continuing to thrive and expand its utilitarian-while-whimsical offerings into the online world. Its products are nestled in households across the globe. Phrases from its brilliantly funny ads have crawled into common parlance. IKEA isn’t simply a store: It’s a cultural force.

IKEA’s long-running epic success is the result of its allegiance to a specific set of principles that guide its every move: To nurture loyalty, a company must dare to be a fixture at every stage of customers’ lives. It must consider their every want and desire. It must meet their needs with products, online and in-store experiences, and customer service offerings.

The proof is in the pudding: Loyal consumers continue to flock to the imposing blue mecca in their town centers (and soon, urban centers) because of IKEA’s ability to hold a customer’s familiar hand throughout their lifetime. With seven decades under its belt, the company has much to teach us about how offering powerful customer experiences can make a brand a force to be reckoned with.

Avaya ENGAGE®, hosted by Avaya and the International Avaya Users Group (IAUG), is the largest gathering of Avaya users and experts under one roof. From January 20–23, 2019, a whopping 3,000 customers, partners, industry analysts, and executives will congregate in Austin, Texas for the event. The four-day conference will consist of workshops and inspirational speakers (including Peyton Manning!), with the focus squarely on the future of communications experience and its impact on digital transformation.

This event is one of the most significant investments your company will make all year, as the ultimate objective is to help attendees achieve maximum value from their Avaya solutions. You will learn the ins and outs of products and solutions to help you save both on money and time.

2018 has been a pivotal year for customer experience (CX). Industry wide, there is now a deeper understanding of CX as a multi-faceted, complex, incredibly important piece in the success (or failure) of any brand.

With this in mind, we’ve rounded up the most important and fascinating CX predictions for 2019, and provided our own thoughts on what they mean and how they will impact businesses in future. To stay at the top of your game in the year ahead, it’s essential to understand larger CX trends and how they are shaping our world and our industry. Read on as we detail five fascinating CX predictions to inform your 2019 CX strategy.

Last week, Fonolo hosted an insightful live discussion on the three main forms of text-based communication battling for the future of customer service: Messaging, chat, and text. The expert panel discussed the impact of messages on customer service, the importance of chat, the implications of engaging through text, and so much more! To save you some time, we’ve extracted video snippets showcasing highlights from the discussion.